Season of the Body by Brenda Miller

Philip Levine recommends
Season of the Body, essays by Brenda Miller: "Personal essays that explore the relationships between the self and the other, the other being the creator, the world, the social order, the clan, the beloved, and more intimately the reader, the body, the soul. The writing is graceful and rich but never ornate or decorative. Miller writes in the great tradition of the modern essay in English as exemplified by Orwell and A. J. Liebling; in other words, she addresses you with an adult voice in possession of wit, insight, and passion, and tells you things you didn't know." (Sarabande)